I finally had a close to normal night of sleep- well, I was still up until about 2am, but woke at a decent hour actually feeling ready to go. I practiced several things; after the first week here of coaching, I wanted to reprioritize what I brought to sing. I brought a few short roles and one huge role that I wanted to get feedback on, but I'm realizing one month is just too short to do all of that. I could spend all day in my room practicing and then maybe I'd be able to get through everything in my coachings, but that would kind of defeat part of the purpose of being here. No, this isn't purely a vacation for me, but it would be unhealthy for me to stay in this studio all day. And honestly, walking around and being a part of the culture of Paris is just as enlightening and educational as learning a new role.
Today for instance: after I practiced, I made my way down to the Bastille to see about maybe getting rush tickets to Salome. I found that the lovely neighborhood between me and Bastille turns into a pedestrian zone on Sundays, so it was a nice walk through the narrow streets filled with people looking into the many boutiques. I was early enough that I then walked around the other side of the Bastille for a while as well. I got in a line that appeared to be for people under 28 years old (kind of hard to tell when there's a huge throng of people!).
Finally, about 20 minutes before the performance, they start selling the remaining full price seats to the line I was in for a huge discount. I can only guess, but the seat I got was in the front of the orchestra, so it was definitely more than 100 euros, and I got it for less than a quarter of that! Huzzah. I love Salome and have studied it in classes a few times before, but had never seen it live. Very few (really no) sympathetic characters...but yes on the below-the-waist nudity and some very good singing. Salome was sung by Camilla Nylund, who ended up being fabulous, but I was a little distracted for the first part of the opera because something about her hair/costume and general characterization reminded me so much of Jennifer Saunders' character (Edina) on Absolutely Fabulous. Nylund's Dance of the Seven Veils was just so crazy and rather uncoordinated at times, that it seemed like something Edina would do.
It was one of those weather-can't-make-up-its-mind days:
sometimes sunny, sometimes a cold wind, sometimes sprinkling. When the opera ended, it was lovely and cold and just about winter twilight, so I decided to walk some more and ended up at the Notre Dame (ate a delicious citron crepe en route). I almost didn't go because there had just been a busload of people, but went in to find a service going on. It was an evensong, and the choir was singing so I stayed for while. The acoustics in there are spectacular.
Watching other singers is always educational, and today was a fine day of learning. I have some more coachings lined up this week, and possibly 2 auditions next, then Germany, and then it'll all be over! Trying not to think about that...
